Abstract

Our globalizing world is presently in a state of global turmoil. While felt everywhere in the world, it is the Middle East in general, and Syria and Iraq in particular, where the meaning and the implications of the global turmoil have recently coalesced. As a regional hegemon bordering Syria and Iraq, Turkey is situated at the heart of these challenges. Despite the existing stalemate in Turkey–EU relations, Turkey can deal with these challenges more effectively if Turkey and the EU work together to develop common responses to them on the basis of humanitarian principles and values. In line with the ‘EU Global Strategy,’ Turkey and the EU could work together to provide humanitarian and effective responses to significant security risks they face and play an important role in post-conflict reconstruction and mediation. There is a need to revitalize Turkey–EU relations in a way trust and collaboration replaces skepticism and instrumentalism.

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In writing this paper, I have benefited from my interviews with decision makers and governing elites in Ankara, Berlin, and Brussels, which were conducted in 2015 and after the failed coup attempt in 2016. The interviews were made within the context of the two projects in which I am involved at the Istanbul Policy Center at Sabancı University: (a) “Turkey in 2023 (2015–2017)”, and (b) “Polarization, Consensus and Democracy in Turkey after the July 15th Failed Coup Attempt (2016–2017)”. Of course, for the argument and the explanations that the paper puts forward, the whole responsibility is mine.